Still Breastfeeding

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Brandee - posted on 12/10/2008

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I'm reading "Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering" by Dr. Sarah J. Buckley right now and she writes something interesting about full-term nursing: "Extended breastfeeding also has strong historical and cross-cultural support. Mothers in most traditional cultures breastfed their babies into at least the second year, as did most mothers in western Europe until this century. Even in medieval times, the dangers of early weaning were understood, and sickly infants, twins, and males were breastfed longer than the usual one to two years. Katherine A Dettwyler, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Nutrition at Texas A&M University, estimates (from anthropological data) that the natural age for weaning is between four and six years." Four to six years!! So take heart women, your babies are doing great!

Child-led weaning is simply allowing your child to wean when he or she is ready. When they are able to wean on their own time, and when they are ready, it helps them feel confident and secure.

Know that ALL children will wean. Around the world, the age of weaning varies. There is no right or wrong time for children to wean. When allowed to do it on their own, it will happen naturally. Breastfeeding won't last forever, and it's a precious time that will benefit you and your child for a lifetime!

Hi! My sone is almost two years and I'm still breastfeeding him. He don't want to stop. Now daysI'm working and he is in a kinderkarten, so breastfeeding is by night's and mornings... He is allergy and can't dink cows milk either soyaproducts. Only rice drink goes. So i'm breastfeeding him two-three years old. And I hope he's allergy goes away someday. In here Finland some said that one year is enough, other two years. But this is familymatter, and child (baby). There are cause why mothers can't breastfeed and it could be very hurting thing those mothers. I've can breastfeed my both sons. First son gets also babymilk and he slept allnight long , abous six hour. Younger wakes 1 and half hour, thats was very hard time..

hi i'm nursing my 17 month old daughter still and am VERY interested in this child led weaning(this is the first i've heard of it!) i have tried to wean her with no success so maybe i should be doing child led weaning...thank you

My son will be 3 at the end of January. I thought child led weaning would have kicked in by now. I don't know if he's ever going to stop nursing. Right now he usually nurses at bedtime and first thing in the morning. I guess it's slowly stopping. Sometimes I think I'm ready to stop him cold turkey but I don't want him to think I'm rejecting him. I just don't know how to stop without hurting his feelings. I think I'm ready for him to stop then other times I'm not. I am feeling like people I know think I'm wrong for extending the nursing this long. Colby (my son) is a very happy and healthy little boy and I credit a lot of it to breast feeding.

Yep, I prefer to call it Full-term, as we're not really going longer than we should, but we're instead going "Full Term". My son will be 2 in 10 days and is still going strong. I am 22 weeks pregnant with our second and plan to tandem nurse them both. We're TOTALLY planning to do child-led weaning! I nurse my son when he wants!

Yay! I love "full-term breastfeeding"! I've never heard that before. I'm currently nursing my 2 1/2 year old and my 11 month old. I am pushing the weaning with my toddler because my goal was to make it to 2 years, and I'm really tired of nursing 2.

And to Johanna - nursing on demand is the rule of thumb around our house. My kids nurse as often as they need to. Some days my 2 1/2 year old nurses more than the 11 month old, some days it seems like all I do is nurse, and some days I get hugely engorged because no one has nursed very often.

Nursing him on demand is a great idea. No need to keep track. It is also normal for a one-year-old to wake a few times during the night. If you are able to sleep with him, that can help everyone to get a good night's sleep. If you're getting stressed about it, remember that it's just a very short time of your life, and try to enjoy!

Hi! I am still breastfeeding my one year old and I am wondering if there is rule of thumb for how many times a day I should nurse him. Right now he nurses when he wakes up, and then periodically through out the day when i offer the breast and then at bed time and at least once during the night. Right now he is getting some molars so that is goofing up his night time sleep but I would really like him to sleep through the night. Can the nursing be part of that?